Stranded
by Koyuki Hime
Summary: following the finale of Total Drama world tour, the contestants flee the volcano's wrath, wash up on another Hawaiian island, find Chris is gone and that a Hurricane is on it's way. full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: just a quick fanfiction i started a while ago, this is not my first submission on this site, i had an account years ago, but lost all the information for it so i just made a new account.

based off of a rp betwen a few friends of mine, rerwritten in fic form, based from the final episode of TDWT, "Hawaiian Punch" (which means if you live in Canada, this contains large spoilers from that episode!) there are particular focuses on AleHeather, Duncney, Trewn, etc, with other couples coming later. i won't spoil the entire plot, but this is going to end up being pro DuncanxCourtney, Anti DuncanxGwen, pro GwenxTrent. if you don't like those pairings... too bad.

if i recieve any flames on the format/readability etc/whatever, i _won't_ be nice about it. _don't_ do it.

Full summary: after the finale of TDWT leaves destruction in it's wake. after having to flee the erupting volcano, the contestants wash up on another Hawaiian Island. they all have to learn to get along long enough to survive, but can things get any worse when Courtney's PDA picks up on a the signal from a nearby radar, which reveals a rather large destructive Hurricane heading towards the Hawaiian islands. to everyone's horror, Chris, Chef and Blaineley are already gone, and no one has any idea where Ezekiel ended up, leaving everyone to fend for themselves against each other. when it looks like the end, can the bridges that were burned be mended? how long will the calm before the storm last? will all of the contestants make it back to Canada in one peice? and Chris is in for a surprise when the parents of the "Missing" contestants confront him... this could end up badly for lawsuits...

I don't own Total Drama, but this is what would've happened in the world tour Finale if i did.

"is everyone okay?" Bridgette asked, a hint of fear in her voice, as she glanced around the 24 teenagers who had washed up on the island. she was more than relieved everyone had made it. she did however notice that Chris, Chef and Blaineley were mysteriously absent. only a few hours ago, every single one of the contestants had either been swimming for their lives, or had washed up on the beach, and passed out from exhaustion. now, some of them were starting to wake up. Bridgette noted that it didn't look like many of the others had woken up. at least they were there, though.

"i think we're good, babe," Bridgette turned her attention then to her boyfriend, Geoff who was laying on the sand on his stomach, a rather large bump on his head.

"oh Shmoopy-boo!" she got up and rushed to his side, to adress his injury. "Geoff, you hit your head!"

the party-boy looked confused and then got up, trying to shake off the dizzy-spell, so that Bridgette wouldn't worry.

"Naahh, i'm fine, Bridge. nothing to worry about," he patted her shoulder once he was on stable footing and not staggering. "but you should probably make sure the others are alright."

he nodded his head to Sierra who was flailing in the sand, her wheelchair beside her and over turned ontop of her, and Alejandro who was laying on his back, his limbs twisted and snapped in odd positons. despite that, he seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Sierra meanwhile was calling out for Cody in her sleep. or was that delirium?

everywhere Bridgette looked, her fellow contestants were in various states of dissarray and chaos. Heather rolled over onto her back, and reached out, trying to grasp something in her sleep, screaming at the green skinned "Freak" who'd been known as Ezekiel. most likely, Bridgette guessed acusing him of stealng her hard earned prize money. though, the surfer-chick was pleasantly surprised when Alejandro's name was mentioned as one of Heather's losses.

she continued her stroll along the beach.

Izzy was laughing, while she was unconscious, Trent was saying Gwen's name over and over again, and Courtney had washed up ontop of Duncan's chest. the punk had a smile on his face, but perhaps he thought it was his new girlfriend Gwen he was holding ontop of him. the CIT seemed happy for the first time in weeks. perhaps that she didn't know she was on her two-timing ex-boyfriend's chest. Gwen meanwhile was discarded farther off to the side, Trent was closer to her than Duncan was, Bridgette noted with a smile.

even further down, Bridgette spied the remaining contestants.

Justin laid sprawled out in an odd positon on the sand, as if he'd been trying to protect his "assets" from the molten rock shower earlier. and Lindsay and Beth were asleep together by Katie and Sadie, Cody was curled into a fetal position, Eva was holding onto a rock, Owen was laying on his side asleep, while Noah was being yet again crushed underneath him.

Dj and Leshawna were relatively close by each other, but Dj was suffering from a nightmare involving being attacked by various animals. which ones, Bridgette couldn't tell exactly, as his screaming was simply mindless terrified screaming. Harold was on his back, snoring, which was dangerously close to waking up Duncan, who seemed to be slowly coming to. Courtney was beginning to stir as well, and Gwen had just woken up.

"well, everyone accounted for?" Geoff asked as he saw Bridgette's returning form from farther down the beach.

"everyone except Ezekiel, Blaineley, Chris and Chef," Bridgette reported.

"anybody hurt?"

Bridgette shrugged. "Alejandro was trampled... Sierra's pinned under her wheel chair, Owen's crushing Noah, you hit your head on something... Dj's having nightmares about being attacked by animals again, and Duncan's going to harm Harold when he wakes up." she jabbed a thumb back in the direction she came.

"so we're looking at medical detail. great."

"i'll tell you what we're looking at!"

Bridgette and Geoff whirled around to see Courtney had suddenly woken up. the CIT stormed up the beach furiously, albeit with a small slight limp, she brandished her PDA, which seemed to be soaked through, as well and tried to get it to turn on.

"we are looking at GIGANTIC ENORMOUS LAWSUIT!" she cried. "GAH!"

Bridgette flinched. "Courtney, you're alive. good." she was a bit afraid of the CIT's current mood.

"i am going to SUE CHRIS out of HOUSE AND HOME! EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!" Courtney shouted furstrated.

"Ugh! could you keep it down? some of us are trying to sleep!"

"Heather?" Geoff's surprised tone gaveway to dissapointment. "you're alive, too."

the Queen bee glared at him, folding her arms. she then took the time to look around, inspecting her new surroundings.

"uhm, where are we?"

Bridgette frowned, sticking both hands into her hoodie, and looked around. "I'm not really sure," she replied half-heartedly.

"somewhere in Hawaii..." Courtney replied. the CIT had sat down comfortably, balancing on a rock right above where Owen was sleeping. she was pushing buttons on her PDA. "or at least that's what this says..." she frowned angrily at it. it was assumed it was still not working.

"We're still in Hawaii?"

"apparently," Bridgette sighed. "i guess after we all swam from the volcano... we just washed up on another one of the Hawaiian islands."

Geoff shrugged "hey, it could be worse. there could be another volcano..."

"it says there is one on the southside of this island." Courtney interrupted him, not looking up from her PDA. apparently she'd gotten it to work decently enough to get demographics of the island.

Geoff sighed.

"we could've all been crushed, or burned like Al over there."

"Gah! _Ay! Que Diablos_!"

Heather's attention was then ripped away from Geoff, Bridgette and Courtney to the pile of drenched teenagers. particularly, the one who'd just screamed something in spanish.

"Speak of the devil," Geoff muttered, reaching up to tip his hat. unfortanetly, he had lost it sometime ago in the escape from the main island, so he only tipped air.

"Alejandro?" Bridgette asked, startled.

"he sounds like he just woke up in a lot of pain," Geoff wasn't at all happy with the concerned look on her face.

"well, at least he's alive,"

Heather glared at him for his remark, and walked up the beach. she was glad Courtney wasn't paying any particular attention to what had just happened. the last thing she really needed was her flirting and fawning all over him. she then wanted to smack herself for that train of thought.

she didn't like Alejandro. so it didn't matter. she had wanted the money, so that's what she'd chosen.

still, the Queen bee shook off a shudder that seemed persistant to roll down her spine. she remembered the finale all too well. at the time, all that had mattered was the money... she'd have never chosen it over him if she'd known that Ezekiel would steal it, and she would end up with absolutely nothing in the long run, anyways.

she had meant to defeat him. but she never meant for him to get hurt.

Heather was a ruthless warrior. it'd been her backstabbing strategy that'd allowed her to survive the twisted game that was Total Drama... and she'd done horrible things that'd gotten her put up as the meanest female competitor the show had ever had. she was largely hated throughout canada as a result, and it had never mattered to her.

she'd read Gwen's diary, used Lindsay and Beth as her own personal pawns, and had gotten more people eliminated than she could've counted on both hands in her time on the show. she'd taken them all down, used them all as her personal stepping stones to the goal. for two seasons, she'd been the queen manipulator. then had come the gemmies... and then she'd met Alejandro...

yet, before, she'd not had a second thought, or batted an eye at anything she'd done. yet, perhaps her sabotage had gone just a step too far, this time.

she thought about it alot as she walked up the beach, to find where Alejandro had washed up. she decided to inspect her handywork in person. truthfully, after she'd left the beach, she hadn't known where he was, or what had happened to him after he'd flown off the edge of the volcano.

now though, she supposed she was about to get an answer...

Heather didn't have a difficult time finding him, at all. he was fairly easy to pick out of the crowd of 23 others. he wasn't drawing any kind of attention to himself, at all. though the one thing Heather did notice right away was that he was awake, and saw her approaching.

"YOU!"

Heather leapt back, partly in terror, partly from shock. she stared down at two menacing green eyes that were sizing her up from the sand. boring holes into her. she could have screamed.

"oh, h- hey Alejandro... i'm so glad to see you're awake... and may i say i've never been happier to-"

"save it for someone who will believe your lies, Heather." he hissed coldly. he coughed, Heather was assuming on volcanic ash.

"I'm not lying!" Heather fired back defensively. she tried to keep the hurt out of her voice. she'd really screwed up this time. she wondered if this would end up like Lindsay and Beth had. a through cursing out, and never speaking to, or trusting her again.

she knelt in the sand beside him on shaky, trembling, legs.

"I really am serious. i'm glad you're not dead," she tried telling him.

for a moment, this seemed to move him. a hint of a smile tugged at his mouth before he scowled up at her again.

"_Mi Amor... _after everything that happened between us... you betrayed me... a- after i made you promise not to!" the fire in his green eyes burned away for a moment, giving way to deep hurt. Heather wasn't ever sure she'd ever see him like that.

"A- After i told you i loved you... on national Tv!"

Heather nodded quickly. "I- I know, a- and you have to believe me, I never meant to...-"

he cut her off with a cold, malicious chuckle.

"Never meant to what, Heather? never meant to reject my real feelings for you? never meant to make me give up my one chance at one million dollars? never meant to ruin my life by leaving me for dead?"

Heather flinched.

"Look, i already said i was sorry...-"

"_No Acepto la disculpa_." he cut her off again, this time in spanish.

"that means...?" Heather asked.

"roughly, I don't accept your apology."

Heather's face fell. she then glared at him, and got up, dusting off the sand on her onto him on purpose.

Alejandro choked and coughed on it, and then glared up at her. ignoring the pain, he reached up with one of his mangled arms and grabbed Heather's leg, pulling her back down to the ground.

"Ugh! I get that you're mad at me, but let go of my leg!" Heather angrily shouted at him. she tried swatting him away, to no avail.

"remember Alberta?" Alejandro growled, pinning her into the sand. "I knew i shouldn't have trusted you. i should've left you in that hole!"

Heather's eyes widened, and she tried shoving his face away from hers. "i cannot believe you just said that!" despite having alot of twisted, broken and mangled limbs, he was still surprisingly strong...

"oh you better believe it!" Alejandro countered, he tried to push her off of him, but ended up putting both of them in a very comprimising position as they both toppled over into the sand.

"get off!"

"_you_ get off _me_!" Heather ordered.

the argument caused a minor stir, and had seemingly woken up some of the others who were nearby...

"well well, what do we have here?" Noah's sarcastic voice loomed over the couple wrestling in the sand. the cynical bookworm looked genuinely amused by this new development. and by looking at him, you could tell Owen had accidentally crushed him, again.

"looks to me like they don't hate each other after all," Izzy added cleverly.

"Aww! i knew you two always looooved each other." Owen gushed.

Alejandro cursed something in spanish. Heather looked completely mortified.

"you _**all**_ have _**FIVE SECONDS **_to get out of here and forget what you saw, or else i'll-!" Heather threatened.

Alejandro smirked at her. despite the fact he was mad about the total phiasco on the volcano, the attraction to Heather most certainly still exsisted. unfortanetly, she was too busy to notice that...

"or what?" Duncan taunted. "talk me to death about your denial that you two are lame for each other?"

Heather snarled. he just had to bring up economy class in Africa...

"YOU ARE SO DEAD!"

"Bring it on Queeny! i've dealt with way worse chicks than you in Juvie!"

Courtney looked up from her PDA, as did Geoff and Bridgette, who were trying to wake up Dj who was still thrashing wildly, trying to protect himself from imaginary animals who were apparently attacking him in his sleep. Gwen was awake now, Trent sat beside her, Cody was clinging to a coconut tree, while Harold slept peacefully, face down in Leshawna's chest. by the look on her face, she was not at all amused.

"Duncan?" the CIT got up and then wandered down the beach, to where the commotion was coming from. for some reason, she started to jog, then run faster as she heard Duncan's crying out in pain.

"Duncan?"

she stopped herself at the rock that divided the north and south side of the beach. her heart was racing and she didn't really know why.

why was she concerned for a two-faced, two-timing jerk-wad who'd cheated on her? on national TV? it took Courtney a moment or two to answer this question, and in this time she heard him squeal, and collapse to the sand.

what she saw was Heather standing over Duncan, a foot on his back, dusting her hands. from the way Duncan was laying, Heather had just smashed his kiwis, in the same fashion she had with Alejandro's on the volcano. a triumphant satisfied smile on her face.

speaking of Alejandro, he was laying in the sand nearby, a hand on his chin, watching Heather with a dreamy look on his face.

"_Ella es mi alma gemela_." he sighed happily. it was quite obvious that despite everything on world tour, he still disliked Duncan. and still very much loved Heather.

the rest of the spectators, Izzy, Owen, and Noah looked mildly uncomfortable at the turn of events. particularly Noah and Owen. Izzy looked rather amused.

that's when Courtney revealed herself to be a fourth spectator.

"what's going on down here?" she asked, to have several sets of eyes land on her.

Duncan groaned, and glanced up.

"P-Princ- Princess?" he squeaked.

Heather stepped on him, ignoring Courtney.

"that is what you get for bringing up what Blaineley said."

she then turned to her former team mate.

"oh hey Courtney," she smiled, and glanced down at Duncan under her foot. "i took care of Duncan for you," she offered.

the delinquent groaned once more.

Courtney's face wasn't satisfied with that comment. "uhm... thanks, Heather,"

she sounded rather uncomfortable, and she was. as she glanced down at Duncan, she wondered once again why she'd cared so much to rush and see if he was okay. he'd cheated on her on national TV. and then, to add insult to injury, he'd never apologized for it, and hadn't broken up with Gwen.

...so why did she think she cared now?

she'd hated his guts only a day ago, when they'd all been running- or, swimming for their lives. it was true most of her anger had been directed at Gwen, because she'd trusted her, and thought she was her friend. but Duncan had hurt her more, because she'd liked him. alot. dare she even think... loved him?

no way. how could she ever have loved that... no good, rude, arrogant, two timing...mischevious, dangerous, tattoed bad boy with danger oozing from every pore...

wait, what?

she wanted to smack herself for that thought.

"Is everyone okay?" Bridgette came running towards the end of the beach where everyone else was gathered. "we heard screaming..."

Geoff followed her. "well, more like squealing...?" he glanced down at Duncan, suspicions confirmed, and then closed his mouth. nothing more needed to be said.

"what happened here?" Bridgette asked, glancing around at the group of teenagers. there was alot of questions that could have been asked of the situation.

"oh it was nothing, Duncan just mentioned something about how Heather and Alejandro were sooo meant for each other according to Blaineley, because they were making out in the sand-"

Alejandro and Heather both looked horrified.

"uhm, before you go believing that psycho hose beast, for the record, Alejandro and i were NOT making out! i was trying to get him off me!" Heather shouted.

"that's what she said," Harold wheezed in the distance. Leshawna rolled her eyes as she got up from the sand, dusting herself off.

the couple's protests were ignored, and Izzy continued with her simplistic explanation.

"and then Heather got mad and smashed his kiwis." Izzy explained. "but then, like Courtney showed up and Heather was all "i took care of him for you, cause he cheated on you! and he deserved it!" and Courtney was like "yeah okay, thanks," and then you guys showed up, all like "whoa, what happened here, we heard screaming, thought someone was being chopped up!" or something like that." she laughed.

Geoff and Bridgette stared at Izzy's recount of the events for a moment, before nodding.

"uhm... okay, thanks Izzy." Bridgette awkwardly said.

"so she smashed your kiwis? rough man," Geoff hung over Duncan.

Duncan grunted, and glanced up at the party-boy, "word of advice man, don't say anything about Al and Heather." he shuddered. "you'll regret it."

Bridgette looked around, at the teens gathered at this end of the beach. "Alejandro, can you walk?" she asked.

Alejandro raised an eyebrow at her, before pushing himself up off the sand with his mangled arms for less than a minute, only to come down a second later, face down in the sand.

"Augh! No." he groaned.

"we'll need someone to carry him back to the other side of the beach," Bridgette murmurred.

Geoff looked around. "I don't know, we could just leave him here until he recovers a bit?" it was still obvious Geoff had not forgotten the 'accidental' kiss in the yukon between his surfer-chick girlfriend and the latin liar.

"he could get washed off the beach again, and it'll be dark soon, we can't let him starve," Bridgette stated bluntly.

Geoff rolled his eyes and sighed. "he wouldn't be alone! Heather's here, and he's majorly into her!"

Heather's cheeks turned a dark red and she glowered at Geoff. Alejandro smirked.

"what would Heather do?" Bridgette shook her head. "no arguments, even if he is evil... he's still technically a contestant... until we get rescued, we have to try to keep everyone alive, Geoff."

Geoff sighed.

"fiiiine. so whose gonna carry him? i'm not doing it, and neither are you, Bridge."

Bridgette rolled her eyes, and sighed.

"let's see... what about Eva? she has nothing against him... or Dj? no... or... Owen?"

the obese blonde looked over, "what?"

"can you pick up Alejandro and carry him back to the other side of the beach?"

Owen glanced at Alejandro, who laid on the sand, and the displeased look on Alejandro's face.

"sure, i don't see why not."

he reached down, picking him up.

"Great, thanks owen." Bridgette smiled. "i guess we should head back to the other side of the beach to check on everyone else,"

Geoff sighed, and started walking off.

Heather got up, chuckling and half smiled at Alejandro, following Owen as he walked off with him.

"I'm just gonna go now..." Noah murmurred, following Owen. Izzy bounded after him, doing backflips and handstands on the sand, laughing maniacally all while.

Bridgette walked after everyone else, before turning back to Courtney and Duncan.

"you two gonna be okay? or should we come back for Duncan?"

Courtney offered her a quick smile and shook her head. "n- no no, i can handle it... i'll just bring him..."

Bridgette nodded. "I'll send Owen back anyways once Alejandro is situated." she then walked off.

Courtney nodded, faking the smile and waved to Bridgette. she then slightly frowned, and dropped to her knees beside him in the sand. Duncan seemed confused by this.

"P- Princess? is that you?" Duncan asked weakly. he squinted up at her.

"I'm here, Duncan." Courtney sighed. "you should know better than to irritate Heather."

"couldn't help it... had to be said." Duncan managed with a half grin.

Courtney rolled her eyes. "you know, you did kinda deserve that."

"how did i deserve it, exactly?"

Courtney's face remained gravely serious. it then occured to the delinquent that this wasn't at all about what he'd said to Heather. this was about Gwen...

"oh come on, Princess... you can't still be mad about_ that_."

" well, I am!" she sighed, looking down she clenched her hands into fists on her lap.

"you made a fool of me, on national tv!" Courtney snapped at him.

Duncan's face fell, and he sighed.

"Princess, look, i really don't know what happened, but it happened. can we move on and forget about it? it's not a big deal... it's not like i ever asked Gwen out. it was just a kiss."

"just a kiss? you kissed her twice, Duncan! and then denied it happened, to my face!" Courtney fired back.

Duncan rolled his eyes.

"you did not just roll your eyes at me, Duncan! i have half a mind to just leave you here all night, you know!"

"oh sorry, i wasn't aware you were actually planning to help me." he said sarcastically. "here i was under the impression you hated my guts. right, princess?"

Courtney just sat in silence for a minute and glared at him. if their relationship was the same as it was before, when there was nothing else to say in their arguments, the silence would be filled by making out. not this time.

her dark eyes just stayed locked on him where she sat. he just laid there, looking at her. watching, waiting for any kind of reaction. a frustrated outburst, more lecturing and scolding. anything.

instead, Courtney's mouth didn't open, and she said nothing else.

this worried him more than he wanted to admit.

"i was going to," Courtney said quietly. she then got up, dusting the sand off of her, and turned away from him.

"wait, so now you're gonna just leave? princess!"

Courtney didn't say anything else. she just got up, and started back up the beach.

"princess? courtney, come on!" Duncan called after her.

Owen passed her on her way back up the beach, "Hey Courtney, is Duncan still-"

"he's fine." she snapped, and passed him by.

Owen blinked, staring at her for a minute, before he walked up to where the delinquent laid in the sand.

"man, dude what did you do to make her so mad?"

"you mean Princess? she's just in one of her moods."

"I HEARD THAT, DUNCAN!" Courtney's furious voice echoed from farther up the beach.

"see what i mean?" Duncan jabbed a thumb farther up the shore.

Owen nodded,

"so, big guy you gonna help me?" Duncan asked hopefully.

Owen shrugged "that's what Bridgette told me to do,"

on the otherside of the beach, Geoff and Bridgette sat around a fire, while Sierra and Alejandro sat and laid on the beach respectively, watching Heather and Gwen fighting.

Sierra was commenting on the statistics on her fan blogs on the Gweather Rivalry, and Alejandro was determined to prove that Heather was a stronger player than Gwen, being that she had won the finals, where Gwen had only made it to second place. though, the latin liar found that arguing with a total Drama super-fan who literally knew everything about the show was a pretty futile effort.

"I still say Heather is a stronger player. she's clever, and quick witted, her strategy is full proof. that is why _Mi Amor _won the game, and Gwen did not."

"but Gwen did make it to the final two of total drama island. and she would've gone farther if it wouldn't have been for Trent throwing challenges for her in Total Drama Action." she paused, to contemplate what she was going to say next.

"as for World Tour, i'm not really sure what happened, but it was Courtney's fault she got voted off."

"you helped her vote Gwen off, if i recall, Sierra," Alejandro corrected her.

"well of course i did! duh! Gwen didn't deserve to stay after she what she did to Courtney! it was almost as down-handed as Heather tricking Trent into kissing her to hurt Gwen in the first season!"

Alejandro nodded, then froze, wide eyed.

"wait...Trent kissed Heather?_ My _Heather? _M-Mi Amor_...?"

Sierra raised an eyebrow at him.

"I- I mean not mine, but-"

"Save it. i know you loooove her." she rolled her eyes at him.

"What? I- I do not love her! Heather betrayed me! w- we are sort of allies, i suppose, but i don't love her!"

"you. are. in. complete. denial. that is _so_ sad." Noah said in a sarcastic deadpan.

Alejandro glared at him.

"I am not!"

"You tooootally are. like, Omg. it's sooo obvious. you're probably the only guy in the history of the show to actually like Heather!_ no one _likes Heather! she's Evil!"

"but then so is he. they're_ perfect _for each other," Noah added.

"Shut up, Noah!" Alejandro ordered.

Bridgette laughed softly. Geoff put an arm around his girlfriend's shoulder, pulling her close. Bridgette smiled, and leaned on Geoff's shoulder.

the rest of the contestants had woken up sometime earlier, and were gathered around the main area of the beach.

Justin was endlessly complaining about his complexion being ruined by the sea-water and molten ash from the volcano, fretting that his agent would drop him if he found out when and if he ever got off the island, to the great annoyance of Lindsay and Beth, who were discussing how it seemed like this had happened before. Lindsay continued to question where the camera crew was, and what the reward for this challenge was. Beth kept trying to reassure her BFFL, that they weren't on the show anymore, which also proved quite futile.

"my face is all dried out! and there's not a good exfoliating cream for miles! by the time we get rescued, or not, my agent will drop me as the sponsor for that new contract!" Justin fretted.

Beth rolled her eyes at the male-model's dilemma. she'd had enough of his self-absorbedness on the second season.

"okay, we're totally not stranded, Chip would never do that... i bet Chip and Chef Hacker made this our Challenge!" Lindsay said matter-of-factly.

"except that Chris is gone already!" Courtney replied frustratedly to the blonde princess's pure stupidity. "and so is Chef and Blaineley! they left us here, Lindsiot! this isn't a part of the show!" she then went back to her PDA, something interesting on the radar on her screen. she frowned, and then glanced out over the water. the green swirl headed for the island made her stomach sink slightly. an ominous feeling she couldn't quite shake...

"Wait, Chris and Chef and that fake blonde schemer left us here?" Leshawna exploded.

Bridgette nodded from the fire. "they were gone when we all woke up. either Blaineley, Chef and Chris are somewhere else on the island, or they found a way off and left us all here."

"i never could trust Chris," Alejandro muttered crossly.

"same here! i really don't get what my mom sees in him," Sierra spat. she was obviously still cross over the fact that Chris had attempted to leave her in Alberta. Cody sat on the ground beside her. her wheelchair had been lost in the original escape from the erupting volcano.

"I'm sure if Chris could've taken us all in the helicopter he would've... he hates getting sued," Cody suggested.

"He's gonna get so majorly sued for this!" Courtney fumed. she pushed several buttons on her PDA, only to presented with the radar screen again. ...the swirl was closer than it was before... that was odd.

Across the fire, the remaining campers sat. Izzy was laughing to herself about something, her voice changing pitch and tone. it was assumed her alter-egos had taken over her conscious mind again. this time it sounded like a lover's quarell between Brainzilla and Explosivo. Owen was complaining about how they didn't have any food, only to be told by Bridgette they'd go looking and exploring to find whatever was there tommorow, and Duncan and Gwen laughed to themselves secretly about the time Chris had made them both, plus Heather and Owen think they were stranded on a island just upstream from Camp Wawanakwa. particularly talking about Owen and how he'd gone insane from only a few hours of isolation, and how likely it was that'd happen again.

Courtney glared at them both.

Trent meanwhile looked rather sad. he'd lost his guitar before the finale, leaving it in the hotel room that he'd had with the other members of the drama brothers (minus Cody, of course). the plan to flee for their young lives off the island by swimming to another one had never been anywhere in the plans for the day, so it'd been left behind. he didn't even have that to keep him busy, and his mind off of Gwen.

he missed her. he wouldn't admit infront of anyone now, but seeing his ex-girlfriend and one of the guys on the island he'd thought of as a kind of friend for a while, it was pretty hurtful. if Trent was a more vengeful person, he'd have placed all of the blame for his season 2 break up with Gwen squarely on Duncan's shoulders. but, the musician was too nice to do that. it had been partly his fault. he probably shouldn't have been throwing challenges... but he'd only wanted to help Gwen win this time. what was wrong with that? he'd deserved to be voted off. his team would have done it sooner or later, anyways.

it still hurt, though.

and another thing that made him even more angry, was that Duncan had singlehanded destroyed two relationships. His own with Courtney, and His with Gwen. Courtney's suspicions had proved dead on the mark months before the accident in the confessional in London. he'd made it a point, at Courtney's suggestion to watch the third season from the aftermath studio, to keep an eye on both Duncan and Gwen. she'd suggested Gwen wasn't trust worthy, and unfortanetly, she'd been right. yet, at the time it'd been more of a point to prove Gwen was really trying to take Duncan from her, and that he was being faithful to her, with Gwen the one at fault. he remembered sitting on the green room couch the night that episode had aired. the hollow feeling he'd gotten had been like when he'd found out Gwen had voted him off the second season. only, worse this time.

Gwen hadn't even been his girlfriend, or ex-girlfriend then. and it had still hurt just as much.

"remember when Chris let the camp flood and he made us think we all were stranded on another island?"

"dude, all i remember is Owen's beard and ." Duncan chipped in. "if he gets lost, who knows what could happen."

Gwen supressed a soft chuckle, too. "i guess...better make sure he stays with the group, then... we have no idea where we are, or what wild animals are lurking around waiting to eat one of us alive,"

Duncan grinned, and slung his arm around her shoulders.

"He used to do that with me," Courtney muttered under her breath, and through gritted teeth.

"taking the break-up a little hard?" Sierra offered.

Courtney shot her a death look. the super fan nodded and didn't ask anymore questions.

"I- I'll take that as a_ yes _for now..."

Harold sat on the sand beside Leshawna, and glanced up at Courtney. in any normal circumstance, the CIT probably still hated him. but while they were all at the major disadvantage of being stranded, perhaps a bit of friendly advice could make her hate him less? it was worth a shot, anyways.

"don't waste your time on Duncan," he wheezed. "he's a big bully."

"says the one who rigged the votes and got me kicked off?" Courtney asked. okay, clearly she wasn't over that bump in the road, just quite yet...

"Duncan already tortured me for that!" Harold exclaimed. he then covered his mouth with his hands. "Crap, i shouldn't have said that."

Courtney looked surprised by this. she then glanced at Duncan.

Leshawna, Harold's off-again-on-again girlfriend nodded. she was going to offer a peice of her mind, as well. even though she didn't really like Courtney much, either.

"as much as i have to agree, he's bad news, girl. just like evil-jandro over there." she jabbed a thumb back at Alejandro and Heather. "you'd be better off without him."

"Maybe..."

Courtney's eyes remained locked on the green haired delinquent. she hugged her knees to her chest, and looked down. things just got slightly more confusing. but was what Harold said true? Duncan had beat him up for getting her kicked off...? when had this happened? why hadn't she known he'd done something so... sweet?

she shook her head.

"Thanks, Leshawna. i'll think about it."

"no problem, girl." Leshawna smiled.

Courtney sighed, and then looked back at her PDA. something was nagging her that this was something that should've probably been known about...

"well, now that everyone's here, and everyone... for the most part is alright, we need to set up a camp."

"we'll also need a leader of that camp," Heather interrupted, "as i won last season, i suggest i do it."

Courtney got up from her rock, walking up to Heather.

"Excuse me Heather, but i'm the only one here with actual CIT training experience. i'm very well certified to handle disasters like this. i should be the one who leads us."

Heather rolled her eyes. "no offence Courtney, but i think we'd be best trusting me, since i'm not sure you're sane enough to handle that."

Courtney glared. "what is that suppost to mean?"

"it means, last season you went full tilt loco, i don't think we should trust you to keep all of us safe."

"it's true. Courtney threatened to let Tyler, and Dj and my cody-kins fall to their deaths in the total drama drama drama island reunion special!" Sierra added.

Courtney glared at her. "not helping, Sierra!" she then turned back to Heather.

"i should be the leader, Heather! l- look at this!" Courtney took out her PDA and thrust it in the Queen bee's face. she'd been waiting for the perfect time to present everyone with her discovery. now seemed as good of a time as any. it'd help her win the argument, anyways. Courtney saw that as an advantage, and a fair one at that.

"what is that...?" Heather asked, her gray eyes were locked on it, slowly widening with horror.

"is that...?" Bridgette pointed to the screen, the look on her face was a mixture of horror, and shock.

"oh man, WE'RE TOTALLY HOSED, BROS!" geoff fretted.

"HOLY FRICKIN CRAP!" Gwen shouted.

"OMG!" Sierra gasped.

"GOSH!" harold wheezed.

"_DIOS MIO_!" Alejandro exclaimed.

Katie and Sadie screamed in unison, Dj screamed, and then fainted. Noah just stared. Izzy stared with a blank expression on her face. Cody jumped into Sierra's arms, Trent looked horrified, even Eva looked a little scared. but, no one of the 24 teenagers summarized what everyone else was thinking like Owen did.

"GREAT GOBS OF CHUTNEY! IS _THAT_ COMING_ HERE_?" Owen cried.

Courtney nodded, a look of fear in her dark eyes.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA _DI- I- I- I- I- I- I- EEEEEEEE_!" he dropped to his knees, sobbing hysterically.

"Owen! get ahold of yourself!" Izzy marched over to her overweight boyfriend and smacked him across the face twice.

"alright people, now the situation is bad! we don't have any food, or any shelter, and n- now there is a hurricane heading straight for this island." Courtney said. her voice was strong, but it was obvious she was trying to hide her own fear.

"we _need _a leader! s- since i was a CIT, i nominate myself!"

"wait a second! Courtney's not a suitable leader!" Heather tried to insist, "Pick me!" but Gwen cut her off.

"Look, as much as I hate to say this- Courtney is the most- _suited _of us, to handle a situation like this. second would be Bridgette...or even Izzy." the goth seemed to hesitate as she spoke, which got skeptical looks from the CIT. but, after all of that, a rare, real smile.

"Thanks, Gwen." Courtney nodded a smile to her bitter rival. it seemed trivial to focus on that now. with the question of survival at hand.

"a- any ways... according to this, the storm is about 6 hours away. we need to establish a safe shelter and a source of food and water before then!" Courtney instructed, holding her PDA up for everyone to see. she paused for a moment.

"Wait, if that thing is 6 hours away... that means..." Heather trailed off

"Chris must've known about it!" Bridgette concluded.

"that's why he and Chef took off!" Geoff fumed.

"THAT DESPICIABLE MAN!" Sierra exploded.

among the group, there was a panicked murmur, and many of them began to plan Chris's _sudden, unfortanate_ demise. Courtney noticed that the attention had been drawn away form her. that needed to be fixed.

"ahem..." she waited, and no one turned to look at the CIT.

"QUIET!"

this put all eyes back on her. not all of them happy, but at the moment, that didn't matter.

" Ahem. my first order as leader is to secure these resources to ensure we all survive. as such," she swiveled on her heels, as if selecting a victim from the 23 other teenagers gathered around her. she finally selected the overweight jolly Owen as that victim.

"Owen, hand over your junk food stash!"

"what? but my caramel chewies and nanaimo bars!" the big blonde whined.

Izzy smacked him again. "it's for survival, solider!"

the tone Izzy's voice became at that moment was a new one to all of the 24 campers.

"that's interesting," Sierra mused. "could the infamous miss Isabella "Izzy" Esquire Escope Explosivo Brainzilla be developing yet another new alter-ego persona? what a shocking and sudden development!" the super fan looked around and then cursed.

"Crap! and me without my laptop to blog it for the fanbase!" this earned a few creeped out stares from the others around where Sierra sat on the sand.

"you know, i'm from Hawaii... maybe i could go into town, talk to some of the locals... find us a way off the island? you know, that is what you're suppost to do in a hurricane?" Justin suggested.

"especially one of that size?" he added in a panicked voice, pointing to Courtney's PDA screen.

"according to this, this is one of the unpopulated Islands, Justin," Courtney informed him. "no towns."

the male model sighed dramatically, then dropped to his knees.

"alright. that was my plan. i'm_ doooooomed_!"

Courtney rolled her eyes. "Lindsay, Beth, help him up. we can't afford anyone going crazy now." her eyes darted slowly towards Owen. she'd watched the camp castaways Episode. his sanity was questionable just from that. and the situation was just too familar for her, or anyone else's comfort.

the ditzy blonde remained at her boyfriend, the wannabe jock Tyler's side, the heels of her boots dug into the sand, a defiant look on her face. "No!"

Courtney frustratingly sighed. "Katie, Sadie?"

the two best friends bounded to the male model's side without a second thought to the request, and picked him up off the sand. most of the lifting on Sadie's part, while Katie seemed to struggle. apparently Justin weighed more than his comp card let people believe.

"if anyone else has any kind of food rations on them, it is absolutely imparitive you hand them over, so we can build a stash before we go looking for extra food." Courtney ordered. her dark eyes searched the group.

"all i have on me is my secret spice," Dj said, he dug into his pocket, producing a small jar of red flakes. he handed it to Courtney.

Courtney then took it and inspected the bottle, "it'll have to do for a start." she'd obviously been expecting more. she then looked at the group again.

Beth stepped forward, then Bridgette, the surfer giving up a chocolate bar, Cody was jabbed in the side by Sierra to give up what candy stash he'd been carrying on him since Rapa Nui. the peanut buttercups and chocolates Alejandro had taunted him with during the challenge, as well as small bits of things left over from Team Amazon's win in New York. surprisingly, people had also stashed things away from first class on the plane, and what was to be assumed as the Hotel that the peanut gallery and aftermath guests had been staying in just prior to aftermath's room service reserves. Sierra handed over the packets of the so proclaimed "love tea" she'd gotten in china. Owen's stash had the most wealth, Caramel Chewies, Potato chips of several different flavors, Nanaimo Bars, odds and ends of Chocolates, Gummies, Cheese puffs, and other various junk foods everyone knew he'd had largely stock piled since season 1. the contents also yeilded some health food, and in a few short minutes there was a smile pile of junk food on the rock beside Courtney. most of it, belonging to Owen.

"that's a start," the CIT said, inspecting the smallness of the pile. "we'll need more. just incase we don't get rescued right after the storm's over."

"you mean you're actually planning on having us stay put here?" Justin exclaimed. "I'm from Hawaii! the one thing you're NEVER suppost to do is stay put!"

Courtney once again ignored him, turning back towards the food stash. "we have no other choice," she repeated, going down the line again to confiscate whatever food means the other contestants had on them.

"Chris is already gone. and we all know he's not going to bother sending search and rescue after us!"

Courtney managed to secure three more chocolate bars and some unchewed gum off Harold. she added this to the stash and then turned. "someone's been holding out..." she muttered. she then turned, narrowing on the suspect.

"alright, cough it up."

"i don't know what you're talking about," Duncan retorted, almost in a mocking tone. this was reminding him of when Courtney would interrogate him on the island about his supposed wrong doings.

"i know you have to have some junk food on you somewhere. we'll all starve if you don't hand it over, so do it." Courtney repeated.

Duncan snorted and rolled his eyes at her, a smug grin tugged at his mouth.

"whatever you say, _Warden._"

Courtney glared at him, an outstretched hand to collect the withheld junk food.

"_Now_, Duncan."

the delinquent sighed, rolled his eyes a final time and rummaged in his pockets. withdrawing a chocolate bar, some kind of jerky, a half-eaten bag of chips that'd obviously been in his pocket sometime, as the contents were reduced to a fine salty dill-pickle scented powder and something that wasn't food at all, but a wooden trinket he'd obviously carved. he quickly shoved that back into his pocket, before Courtney could see. the CIT's curiousity was peaked only for a moment.

"what was that?"

"what was...what?"

"that thing in your pocket?"

"since when are my pocket contents any of your buisness, Princess?"

Courtney had to think of a reason to demand he hand this over, too.

"it could be something useful! like a pocket knife, or a lighter... and i know you have one of those on you."

"it's not a lighter, or a pocket knife."

"then what?"

"none of your buisness, how bout?" he shoved it farther down into his pocket, and rolled his eyes at her.

"...whatever." Courtney gave up, snatching the food means, and turned her back on the delinquent.

"alright, that's a start for food rations... but obviously, we're still going to need more..."

"we could look around the island for fruit? Bananas, Coconuts, or Pineapples?" Bridgette suggested.

Alejandro and Heather simultaneously shuddered. bad memories of the finale coming to mind. as did Leshawna, from her allergy.

Owen looked around at the mention of coconuts. "?"

"that sounds like a great idea, babe," Geoff agreed.

"we could try fishing," Duncan suggested. "I'll gut some fishies." he whipped out his pocket knife out of the same pocket he'd shoved whatever the wood thing had been in.

Bridgette glared at him.

"all great suggestions," Courtney agreed. "so, what's left is water and shelter."

"all we have is sea water," Gwen pointed out.

"and filtering it to be drinkable clean water takes days. it's a very intricate process of evaporating...and we don't have that time!" Harold wheezed.

Courtney nodded. "that's true... so we'll need a clean source of water."

"we could use Rain water?" Bridgette suggested. "Hurricanes produce a ton of rain."

"good luck getting any of it to stay in anything," Justin intejected. "it blows sideways." this seemed to instantly deflate any of Bridgette's hope for that suggestion working.

"it could still work." Courtney interjected, "we'd just need something to hold water in..."

"I could weave us a container!" Sierra suggested. she looked around. "I just need some grass."

"i'm sure there's some in that jungle looking area over there...?" Cody pointed.

Gwen and Heather shuddered. the memories of being held at spear point by the zing-zings in the amazon came to mind just looking at the darkness leading into the jungle in the distance. Gwen was the most freaked out. perhaps because she remembered that so well... the x-ray glasses, the epipen... well, actually things got fuzzy after that... even Courtney looked a bit un nerved by that idea, the bad memories of the amazon phiasco reccuring to her, as well. but the fearless leader, miss CIT swallowed that pride for the good of the group.

"great! we'll look there for extra food, possibly a shelter, and some grass so Sierra can help us collect clean water," Courtney listed off. she pulled out her PDA, to check on the storm's progress.

"we only have a few hours to get all of this done," she informed everyone. "so we'll have to split up."

"whoa, we have no idea where we are, or what rabid wild animals are lurking around in the jungle in there! do you really think that's a good idea?" Dj fretted.

"n- not that i'm afraid of animals... it's my curse... and-" Leshawna cut him off.

"for the _last time_, Dj! it's all in_ your head_!"

"but the baby seal, and the turtle, and the goat and-!" Everyone ignored Dj as he rattled on, listing off the many animals he'd hurt thanks to his curse in the last season.

"alright! Duncan can stay on this beach and fish, since it was his idea..." Courtney said. she looked at the delinquent. "but that means he'll have to catch alot of fish... twenty or so."

"that won't be a problem." Duncan chuckled, walking off towards the surf to start fishing.

Courtney sighed, calling after him.

"just make sure you fill your quota, Duncan!" he didn't respond, being too far off to hear Courtney's request.

"as for the rest of you, we'll need to split up the work load...and work _twice_ as hard."

there was a collective groan, but Courtney's firm glare ended that quickly.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: here it is! after a month, here is chapter 2~! pardon all of the typos and errors, this was written roughly at 1-2am last night.

I don't own Total Drama, Sadly. because if I did, Duncan and Courtney would still be together, and Gwen would've never broken up with Trent :(]

Contains small and major spoilers from all three seasons of TD so far! (as well as small hints for next season later on!) ..RISK!

thank you, and enjoy~ ;)

2-

"AHEM- as I was saying...-" Courtney began, clearing her throat "we need to split the work load up if we hope to get anything done before the 6 hours is up."

the CIT surveyed the group infront of her, "we'll divide the work load evenly and effectively, based upon your abilities and skills that would be most beneficial..." she said this with as much honesty as she could muster. she didn't see a whole lot of potential from this group of rag-tag misfits. each one of them had skills, but also huge flaws. if she'd had time before this life-or-death situation, she'd have made a carefully organized list of each of them and all of the flaws they had, and what kind of danger it'd be putting everyone else in. that was if she'd had the time. this situation didn't allow for that kind of leisure, so, Courtney would have to deal with it. she'd had to put on a poker face for her student body presidential campaigns. it'd have to work now.

her first victim at the front of the line was Harold, who Courtney still held a slight grudge against for her unfair elimination in season 1. beside him was his on-again- off-again girlfriend Leshawna, Cody, Sierra, without her wheelchair she wasn't sure how useful the super fan was going to be to all of the prep work that had to be done just to ensure survival. beside them, was Heather, at her side was Alejandro, whose injuries she figured would also be a hindrance. Geoff, then his girlfriend, the earth loving, surfer chick Bridgette. but then again, since it'd been the love bird's idea in the first place.

"Harold, Leshawna, Heather, Cody, Geoff, Bridgette and Alejandro, you guys go look for extra food in the jungle..." she pointed to the dark, unwelcoming looking foiliage behind them on the far end of the beach.

Heather noticably gulped, looking into the darkness. Harold grinned at Leshawna, who rolled her eyes, but was smiling. it was assumed they'd patched up their differences thanks to Alejandro's meddling. Alejandro meanwhile, was looking at Heather, a slight smirk on his face.

"Sierra, you go with them too, find grass. lots and lots of grass! we'll need you to weave us things to hold water in!" if it had worked for their boat in Egypt, it couldn't fail now, could it?

"we'll be using Bridgette's idea of using Rain water for our clean water," she explained.

Bridgette smiled, Justin scowled.

Sierra squealed, and grabbed Cody, who gave a slightly embarassed eyeroll, sighing.

next down the line was Beth, Lindsay, Tyler, Dj, and Justin. to be practical, she figured she'd throw in Katie and Sadie to round out the numbers. and they'd be less of a disaster to everyone else.

"Lindsay, Tyler, Beth, Dj, Katie, Sadie and Justin, you guys are responsible for finding or building us a safe shelter that will hold up against the storm." she paused

"and since Justin is from Hawaii, he's in charge. so do everything he says!"

the male model grinned "thank you, Courtney, i appreciate you taking the time to aknowledge and listen to my opin-"

"the rest of you will help Duncan with fishing." she looked around "I'll be surveying everyone's work."

she eyed the rest of her work force. the big loveable Owen, the insane psycho hose beast Izzy, Eva, Noah, who she figured if not for his lazyness could survey and help her over-see the rest of the workers. then, there was Trent, and Gwen... she was admitadly, a bit nervous about sending the goth-boyfriend stealer to be anywhere near her ex-boyfriend. Courtney didn't want to be petty, or put any doubt in her now, but she couldn't help it. it still hurt. she wasn't going to pretend it didn't either.

"so Owen, Izzy, Eva, Noah, Trent... and Gwen." she tried not to hestitate with Gwen's name, but it'd happened. she winced slightly,

"you guys go help Duncan."

she then shook her head, and looked over the group. "if anyone finishes early, go help with the shelter." she wasn't sure she could've made the best decision with that one, but what choices did she really have? at least she figured she'd trust a few of the others would help with it. no one wanted to die, did they? a good shelter was absolutely essential to surviving a storm. especially in their situation.

"now, go!" she ordered, pointing in the three different directions, the teenagers under her control scattered to their seperate tasks.

Courtney stood on the center of the beach, watching them as they all left, she shivered slightly and looked up, feeling soft raindrops landing on her face. time had started ticking already. she took a moment to compose herself, before she started to walk towards the group she'd sent off to build their shelter. she took one look towards the surf-line where the teens she'd assigned to work there were already busy. a pile of fish from Duncan's already in progress work was beginning to accumulate on the sand.

"how are we suppost to find anything in here?" Leshawna swatted at the flies that buzzed around her head, "and all these bugs are getting on my last nerve!" she smacked her arm, to squash one that had landed there.

Heather walked ahead of the group, rolling her eyes. her prior experience in the Amazon had put her at a calmer state of mind.

"you _would _know how if you hadn't gotten eliminated before the Amazon," she pointed out in a slightly hostile tone. she then glanced towards Alejandro, who casually strolled beside the Queen Bee. he too, had made it through the Amazon phiasco, and had felt it necesary to appoint himself and Heather as the leaders of the group, since Harold nor Leshawna had made it far enough in the game to have any idea what they were suppost to be looking for. Heather had pointed out that that was his fault.

Leshawna rolled her eyes "point taken," she stated in a cross tone. she too then looked towards Alejandro, glaring at him, while Heather just had a fond look of amusement.

"Gosh, Courtney's as sadistic as Chris!" Harold wheezed. the ginger haired Dweeb walked alongside Leshawna, and had to take regular puffs on his inhaler to even attempt to keep up.

"sending me into such a compromised enviroment? i'm telling you Leshawna, she still hates me!"

Leshawna sighed. "oh Harold, you gotta give the girl some credit, it's not her fault Chris abandonned us here." her voice took on hostility again. "but it's not gonna be my fault he ends up in the hospital after this mess is all over! ugh!" she smacked another bug, this time on her face. Heather couldn't help a slight chuckle.

_"Amigo_," Alejandro slid an arm around the dweeb's shoulder "you and Leshawna can bow out if you want to, Heather and i are more than capable of finishing this task ourselves. i wouldn't want you to get ill or anything."

Harold snorted, then weakly pushed Alejandro's arm off his shoulder.

"nice try." he took another huff off his inhaler, and glared at the latin-liar.

"fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on you."

"uh, Harold that's not how that expression goes..." Leshawna tried to correct him. Harold was too busy seething to hear her.

Alejandro shrugged, "suit yourself, then." he turned, walking away to help Heather, who wore a soft smirk and a look of amusement.

"couldn't convince him, huh?"

"I have a feeling he's still a bit sore about Japan."

"you did convince him to quit the game, and give up any chance at the money," Heather paused "-but, I have to admit, I've never seen smoother manipulation." she smiled. "not even in my previous two times on the show."

Alejandro smiled back at her, "I'm glad you finally respect my strategical genius."

Heather felt her cheeks grow hot. "y- yeah, well, I guess you deserve it... you played the game well...even if you were trying to defeat me half the time."

Alejandro laughed. "ah, _Mi Amor_, it was only apart of the game. as I told Bridgette, Rivalries are irelevant. if you had been in the right place, at the right time in Egypt... I know we would've been _mucho _closer by the end of the game."

Heather's face darkened. internally the Queen bee cursed. only Alejandro could make her so flustered that she couldn't think straight. so much that she couldn't focus. so much that..

"Ow!"

Heather ended up on the ground, and looked up at what she'd just run into. "what the...?" she got up and dusted herself off.

"_Chica_! are you alright?" Alejandro called from behind the group.

Heather nodded, "yeah i think so," she groaned and looked up, only to have something come down on her head, toppling over again.

"Owww ow ow!" she rubbed it again. her head hurt this time, and she could almost feel a small bump where the pineapple had landed. she still felt where the golf-balls had landed on her earlier, too.

the pineapple tumbled off of her and onto the ground, smashing, the yellow juice splattering on the ground infront of the group.

Leshawna shreiked, and jumped backwards, making Harold topple over.

"of all of the things to fall out of the sky!" she cursed.

Harold grinned "don't worry Le-goddess, i'll retreive the sacred yellow fruit for you, since you have an allergy." he grabbed the tree's trunk with both arms, and wrapped his scrawny body around it, trying to inch up it, like a slug.

"Awww, ginger-baby-cakes, that is so sweet!" Leshawna cooed.

Heather rolled her eyes. "ugh. i thought Baby talk was Bridgette and Geoff's thing."

Alejandro cracked a small smile at this remark.

Harold was obviously not taught how to do this at any of his so called "mad-skills camps", because down came Harold only minutes later.

"You alright, ginger-baby cakes?" Leshawna asked, hanging over him when he fell.

"f-fine," Harold wheezed, the wind having been knocked out of him, he coughed, then he pushed himself off the ground and went back to scale the tree again.

"I won't fail this time!" he said, determined as ever.

Leshawna watched up the tree fearfully. "okay! just be careful!"

Heather meanwhile sat at the base of the tree, off to the side, a hand to her head, trying to get the slight throbbing to dissapear. she squeezed her eyes shut tight, and sighed.

"Heather?"

the Queen bee looked up to see Alejandro's concerned face above her own, and the heat returned to her face.

"u-uhm... I'm fine, r- really..." she began nervously. "j- just a bump on the head."

he didn't look entirely all convinced and pushed Heather's hand away, to inspect her injury himself. without warning, just like in Alberta, he picked her up, bridal style, hanging onto her tightly.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I don't know,_ Chica_. after everything that happened yesterday... the train... and the golf balls..." he trailed off, ignoring her protests.

"that was Bridgette and Geoff's fault! a- and the train was _yours_!" Heather snapped defensively. she then realized her tone and internally cursed. he was only trying to help... but still.

"I hit my head..." she began flatly. "there's not really anything to worry about...-"

"and ran face first into a tree?"

she scowled and rolled her eyes at him. "why are you doing this?"

"you came to check on me earlier, i figured i'd repay the favor." he shrugged.

"you got angry at me for making sure you were alive," Heather corrected him, rolling her eyes. "and you're not doing this because you supposedly like me?"

"I never said anything like that..." he paused, "but, you can't deny that you are in love with me."

"oh you wish." Heather rolled her eyes. she stubbornly pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

he continued to smirk at her.

"I- I don't love you!"

"yes, you do." he tickled her cheek, forcing Heather's pout to dissapear.

"no, I don't!" Heather's voice was quickly losing strength. each time she opened her mouth, she tried to bring back the ferocious growl she'd had before each time her voice began to falter.

Alejandro chuckled. "you do, Heather. no matter what you say, you can't deny that deep down, over the course of the competition, you were truly jealous of all of the time i'd spend with those other _Senoritas_, instead of you...because you_ love me_."

"what? I so was _not _jealous! a- and quit changing the subject!"

"but it was so obvious that you were... I mean, _Mi Amor_, I saw the look in your eyes in Australia...you didn't want Courtney to have me, did you?"

Heather blushed, but maintained a fierce glare.

"for your information, the ONLY reason that... I- I might've looked... upset, is because her flirting with you was losing us challenges! get ONE thing through your thick skull, Alejandro! I am _NOT_ in love with YOU!"

"I saw it in your eyes. you were jealous. truly, and completely-"

Heather glowered at him as he spoke, and decided to finally shut him up. she did so, by grabbing him and kissing him with an intensity that scared even her.

"let me make one thing clear t- to you...!" she panted, Alejandro just smirked at her.

"I, do not- nor did i ever- love, you!" she wheezed "f- further more, I don't love you, I don't even like you! I-!"

Alejandro was the one to end the debate this time, cradling Heather against him, he held her head and tilted her lips to meet his, reneacting their kiss on the Volcano, except Heather didn't seem to hesitate like before. he noted her eyes were closed right away, and took that as a good sign that she'd accepted she'd lost her argument.

slowly, he put her down and pushed her up against a tree that was behind them, all without losing the connection between them.

when the kiss finally ended, Heather seemed in a slight daze, a small, soft smile persisted on her face. he felt a warm fuzzy feeling. _Ay Dios_... she looked so beautiful. it was little things like this that reminded him why he'd fallen for her in the first place. aside from her evil, ruthless strategic game play, and the same clever, deceptive and cunning mind that he had, Heather was truly beautiful. _Mi Muy Hermoso Reina... _

he thought back to the Finale breifly, and how things should've gone differently. he had been so close! so close to the prize that he could taste it! it was mint dipped in pure gold... the suitcase was just inches away. just a step or two more, and he would've tossed the dummy.

but then, Heather's wheezing had distracted him, and all thoughts of the money had gone out the window when she'd dropped to the ground, saying she'd given up and began to cry. he hadn't expected that.

why had he just given up on it? why at that moment, why was Heather more important to him than winning? he still didn't have the answer to that question, and supposed until he got back home. the island was no place to look for that kind of thing.

despite the fact he'd lost, he still thought he wouldn't have changed a moment. the kiss with Heather... he'd cherish that moment for the rest of his life, even if he and Heather didn't last after this. his pride and reputation would go down the tube for the breif second in which he'd dropped his guard long enough to let her ruin his chances at the money, and reject him effectively, only to lose the money in the end, herself.

despite the rivalry, Heather wasn't all that difficult to get along with. but he supposed that was because they were so simmilar...

perhaps, being stranded here, with her, wasn't so horrible after all. for now, he had a... semi-reliable companion, and one that he shared so much in common with. not to mention, Heather was quite easy on the eyes. he was still wary about trusting her, oh yes. but still, it was her, or Harold. and personally, he'd veiwed his fellow male competitors as weak, and useless. not worthy of being his competiton in a million years. and, not to mention that Leshawna still utterly despised him. he had to face facts that his choices were quite limited.

"_Te Amo_," he smiled, knowing that Heather wouldn't understand what he'd said, it made him feel better about everything to say it anyways. he truly valued her company at this moment, and wanted her to know it, even if she wouldn't. after all, she was the only woman for many many miles that he'd have willingly forked over one million dollars for.

Heather did seem to understand something, though. she laid her head on his shoulder, and for a moment everything was perfect. it felt as if huge weights had been lifted from his shoulders. but something still felt... off.

he did pick up that the wind was beginning to pick up. not a good sign. Heather seemed to sense his discomfort, as well. he remembered Courtney's initial warning of the storm being six hours off. he began to wonder how much time had passed.

"Al?"

He didn't flinch at the nickname, green eyes remained on the sky. the Queen bee noticed a growing frown on his handsome face.

"hello?" she waved her hand infront of his face, in attempt to snap him out of the trance he seemed to be in.

"Hm?" he turned and saw Heather's own, slightly worried face. "what did you say,_ Chica_?"

"you got all... spacey a moment or two ago..." she trailed off, "something bothering you?" Heather then wanted to internally smack herself for even asking such a question. then again... they'd just kissed. again... denial of her own obvious feelings was becoming increasingly more difficult. she cursed herself. in the competition it'd been so easy to pretend to hate him.

all alone on a deserted Hawaiian island, it was the hardest thing.

"No..." he lied, his own green eyes reflecting a bit of fear. Heather had seen the look many a time to know it exactly. she'd seen it in Lindsay's eyes, whenever she'd tried to assert her authority over the ditzy blonde. but in the cunning, deceptive, charming and incredibly handsome Alejandro? it couldn't be!

"it's just a little windy," she tried to assure him, however the Queen bee's heightened sense told her otherwise, as well. she seemed to feel the same bit of eerie unease he did.

"_Si_, just some passing clouds, I'm sure." Alejandro forced a smile, and then turned, "we should get back, though. I'm rather worried about our comrades... Harold's Asthma could surely fail in a jungle setting."

Heather snorted and rolled her eyes. "oh it'd be awful if he had an episode... what would we ever do without Harold?" she faked the sympathetic tone, and Alejandro laughed. he slipped an arm around her waist, putting her back on the ground at last. he noted happily she hadn't complained about it the whole time.

"come,_ Chica_. we should go check on them. just to be safe."

Heather wordlessly agreed, shuffling beside the Arch villain through the jungle.

Meanwhile, on the otherside of the beach, Geoff, Bridgette, Cody and Sierra were fighting their own way through. Cody had already found alot of grass that Sierra had deemed useful for weaving. but she'd also rejected just as much. she was very particular.

"what about this?" Cody stumbled over with a large pile in his arms, as he walked, the short nerdy boy dropped alof the strands he'd picked. he had to show Sierra each bunch he got to let her examine it.

"let me see," Sierra snatched the bundle from him, putting it on her already quite grassy lap, and picked a few stray blades from the bundle. "les'seee hereeee,"

she brought it really close to her face to examine it. Cody sighed, "do we have enough yet? we need something to hold water in! l- like a bowl? a small bowl?"

"no, it has to be large or it'll blow away," Bridgette sighed. she was currently reaching for a dangling coconut, Geoff pushing her up by her feet so she'd be closer.

"Just a little more, Geoff!"

Geoff's arms trembled underneath her. "A- Alright babe!" he pushed her up, and Bridgette momentarily lost her grip on the tree, resulting in a terrified yelp, and having to grab the branch. however, it was in this moment that Geoff was startled, so he let go, and down came Bridgette.

"Ow!"

Bridgette groaned, and sat up.

"oh my gosh! babe!" Geoff dropped to his knees beside his girlfriend, fussing over her. "Are you okay? i am so so so so sorry, Bridge!"

Bridgette winced, and then turned to see Geoff's worried, terrified face.

"Yeah," she laughed softly. "I'm fine, don't worry, okay?" she reached up to caress his cheek, and Geoff's face immeaditely melted in a goofy grin.

"awww, Bridgey-Bear, i'm just glad you're okay." he sighed.

"I'm fine, really." Bridgette insisted. but she too then sucumbed to all of he lovey-doveyness. "but it was so sweet of you to worry over me like that, shmoopy boo!"

"oh any time, shmoopy-shmoo," Geoff cooed. "I Would totally do anything for you, Bridge."

"awwww!" Bridgette then grabbed her boyfriend's face. the two began an intense make-out session.

Cody groaned and rolled his eyes. Sierra 'aww'ed.

"Omg, a gidgette make-out session! I watched all of the second season, but since Geoff wasn't on the third, I _never_ thought I'd get to see one_ in person_!"

Cody sighed, "they're just making out, can we get back to the grass, Sierra?" he stopped and looked up at the sky, noting the darkening clouds.

"erhm, Sierra...?"

"hm?" Sierra looked over at him, "yes Cody-k- i mean, Cody?"

Cody groaned, and sighed. "Sierra, i think we have enough grass... we should go back to the beach...?"

Sierra nodded. "oh okay," she sat back in the wheelchair, "Geoffff~! Bridgette!" she nudged the couple with the wheel of her wheelchair.

"H-Huh...?" Bridgette pulled away from Geoff, startled and blushed, "y- yeah? y- you need something, Sierra?"

"Cody suggested we head back now."

Bridgette leapt to her feet, and dusted herself off, before Geoff had the chance to help her, and glanced back towards the beach. the surfer chick's mood was somewhat put off, as well, as she seemed to sense something wasn't right. perhaps it was the fact a raindrop landed on her nose. then another, and another. slowly, until there was a slow but steady trickle.

Bridgette frowned, but brushed it off. she looked at the sky. it was darkening. this seemed to worry her.

"Bridge?"

Bridgette ignored Geoff's question, and thought back to what Courtney had said earlier when she'd insisted of being in charge of everyone. there really was a hurricane coming. and from the look of the sky it was gonna be a big one.

"I agree, let's go back to the beach." she then turned and began to walk away, faster than Geoff, Cody, and even Sierra in her wheelchair.

"Bridge? Babe, wait up!" Geoff called after her.

Bridgette ignored him again, the only thing on her mind was getting back to the beach and speaking to Courtney as soon as possible. time seemed to be running out faster than she'd originally thought.

Author's note: terribly sorry for the Delay of this chapter! i've been busy with school. chapter 3 is coming soon, though. please read and review!


	3. Chapter 3

author's note: here is chapter 3!

I don't own Total Drama.

Contains smaaaaaalll spoilers from all three seasons thus far! (and small hints for next season, too!)

Read at your own Risk!

Enjoy~

3-

"No No No! that's all wrong!" Justin sighed. the male model frustratedly sighed, and got up from where he'd been relaxing on the sand, to storm over to his "team" for building the shelter like Courtney had instructed.

Lindsay and Beth had no idea what they were doing, and Dj was afraid to do much of anything to avoid provoking his curse any further. Katie couldn't do alot of the heavy lifting, and Sadie was so slow! at this rate, he didn't figure anything would get done. they'd have to abandon building plans and look for something that could stand up to the storm surge.

it was also at this he glanced over his shoulder just to make sure Courtney wasn't surveying their group at the time, knowing she'd have alot more to complain about. thankfully, the CIT wasn't anywhere within earshot for the moment.

or, so he thought.

"so," Courtney's calm voice startled him. "How are things going over here?"

"oh, Courtney! hey... uhm... just fine. yeahh... I think if you look around, everything's fine." he turned and gave a cut throat gesture to Lindsay who dropped the branch she was working with, and smiled sheepishly. however, she dropped it right on her boyfriend Tyler's foot, so the jock's instinctual reaction to that was to scream, and grab his foot, to proceed to hop around on the only good one he had left.

Justin looked panicked, watching Tyler's stumbling, and sighed. Katie and Sadie looked horrified as it looked as though he was going to crash into what little bit of the branches they'd tied down into a foundation and one wall.

"well... good," Courtney looked off to the side, Justin quickly slid to block Tyler from her veiw.

the CIT seemed to be thinking about something, her focus thankfully wasn't on them.

so she turned, "I'll be back in a little bit to check on you guys again." she brushed raindrops off of herself, and then walked away.

"r- right! right... good talking to you, Courtney! t-take your time coming back, okay?"

before he could even finish his statement, came the loud crash and Tyler's groan. Justin whirled around to see the branches had come undone, and groaned.

"TYLER!"

"oh my gosh, Tyler! are you okay?" Beth asked, hanging over the jock who was twisted in the middle of the branches ontop of him.

his only audible response was a groan. Lindsay knelt by her boyfriend's side, with a worried face.

"Tyson! you don't look so good!"

Tyler ignored the fact Lindsay had messed up his name, again and groaned again.

"Great, Tyler's injured! and to top that off, he destroyed the shelter!" Justin sighed. "now what are we gonna do?" he looked up to the sky as the raindrops that had been falling since they'd started work only about twenty minutes ago began to fall steadily harder. the male model's anger faded for a moment.

"We could try looking for somewhere to use a shelter!" Beth suggested.

"that sounds like a much better idea." Sadie chipped in. "I'm getting splinters from these branches!"

"like me too! my hands hurt _sooo_ much," Katie complained.

"look for a shelter? where are we gonna look? and find a place in less than five hours that has enough room for 23 teenagers? one who probably won't be able to walk now, and one in a wheelchair?" Justin fumed.

"we could try to find a cave." Beth chipped in.

"yeah! a nice and big, and strudy and water proof...and animal proof Cave," Dj Agreed.

Justin rolled his eyes. "fine. but i think we should bring the branches..."

Katie and Sadie groaned in unison.

Justin walked off, the group members slowly following after him.

"Courtney!" Bridgette's jog slowed as she reached the CIT who was shuffling through the sand. she didn't seem to hear the surfer chick right away. instead, her eyes were glued to the screen of her PDA in her hand.

the menacing looking green swirl was getting closer. and alot faster than Courtney had originally estimated. the weathermen were wrong about things on a regular basis, but she was dearly hoping not about this.

"Courtney?"

Courtney stopped walking and turned to see Bridgette. "Bridgette?"

"...you okay? you look like you're thinking about something,"

"hm? n- not really," Courtney sighed, pocketing her PDA. "a- are you guys done?" she saw Geoff, Cody and Sierra running, jogging and rolling to keep up with Bridgette.

"y- yeah," Bridgette glanced behind her, remembering all of a sudden she'd left Geoff with armfuls of pineapples, and coconuts, and Sierra had piles of grass she had already weaved a basket with on her lap.

"Great," Courtney moved to quickly collect the basket, that was filled with the rest of the grass, and the coconuts and pineapples. lifting it carefully.

"we have the container for rainwater, and some extra food, great." she gave it back to Sierra once she'd emptied the food supply, "put it down somewhere so we can start collecting water."

"yeah, that's great Courtney, but I think we should bring everyone back..." she glanced towards the surf, where some of the others were still fishing. "I think the storm is moving in."

Courtney seemed hesitant to aknowledge this, but too looked out. she could still see Izzy on Owen's shoulders, with a hand made spear, spearing whatever fish jumped out of the water below her. Duncan and Gwen and Trent were working together to drag fish out of the water.

"Sierra... go weave them a net," Courtney instructed.

Sierra and Cody exchanged glances, then Sierra rolled away, Cody following.

"you feeling alright, Courtney? y- you're not yourself," Bridgette murmurred, frowning.

"I'm perfectly fine," the CIT then glanced around. "where's Heather and Alejandro a- and Leshawna and Harold?"

"they went in the other side of the jungle. we didn't see them, bro." Geoff explained.

Courtney pulled out the PDA for just a moment, to look at it, which seemed to catch everyone else's attention. she shook it a few times to get the screen to come in more clearly. she was so entranced by it, that she didn't hear Harold's wheezing, as Leshawna carried him and about 12 pineapples in his arms out of the jungle, Alejandro and Heather following.

"we're back!" Heather called. both the Queen bee and Arch villain had armfuls of the fruit they'd managed to gather.

when the Queen bee was largely ignored, Heather walked over to the others, all gathered around Courtney.

"What's going on?"

Bridgette shook her head. "I don't know, Courtney just got all quiet all of a sudden," she frowned, and quickly looked back to the screen. on the screen, she'd managed to pick up a weak signal from a weather radar broadcast.

_"we're back with a late breaking story!"_

_"that's right, daphne. we're getting reports of a monster hurricane, at least a category 4, going on 5 heading for the Hawaiian islands."_

"did they just say...?" Geoff gasped.

Bridgette fearfully glanced from the screen to her boyfriend's face, and nodded.

"Wait, what did they say?" Harold cried.

Leshawna peered over Courtney's shoulder, nodding. "it looks like it's..."

_"this is gonna be one big bad storm! the waves are predicted to be more than 18 feet high. winds will be at an excess of over 170 miles per hour."_

there was a collective Gasp from behind Courtney, but the CIT didn't seem phased by it. but, Bridgette did notice Courtney's hands were trembling, the shaking slowly moving from her fingers up her hand, all the way up her forearm...

"Hey! we're back! and we brought dinner!" Duncan dragged a fish-filled grass net up the beach, Owen, Izzy, Gwen and Trent following.

the delinquent stopped in his tracks, and stared at the group gathered around Courtney.

"man, what's up with Princess?"

Harold shushed him, and Duncan rolled his eyes and pushed past him and Leshawna, to make his way to the front of the group to see what was going on.

_"there's been mandatory evacuation orders for everyone and everything in the honolulu, owahu area. if ANYONE is still around, get out NOW! while you can!"_

_"we'll be here all day to cover the storm."_

_"man, i feel sorry for anyone whose still there. what is their survival chance again?"_

_"well, it'll be difficult... but I'd say less than 50%?"_

Courtney dropped the PDA on the sand, the screen going to static.

"Courtney?" Bridgette asked worriedly.

"Helloooo? Earth to Courtney?" Geoff asked, waving his hand in her face.

"so we're all gonna die..." Harold contemplated quietly. Leshawna's face turned grim.

"what?" Heather fumed. her anger returned, only for a moment, to give way to pure terror.

"I lost my hair... m- my tooth, and _one million dollars_, and now we're all going to _die_?"

Alejandro quickly grabbed Heather, restraining her in a tight embrace.

"Shush,_ Mi Amor_... I- I'm sure that's just a rough estimate... weather men make mistakes all the time..." he gulped himself. it was obvious he was scared, too.

before Alejandro could try to reassure her anymore, through the static crackled the voice of the weathermen again.

_"and folks, that's not a rough estimate. based on all of our information about this storm- that's a very likely possiblity."_

Alejandro screamed, profanities coming out in rapid, furious spanish.

each of the teens had their own reactions to this news.

Owen began to cry, Izzy's calmness was almost un nerving. Noah's horrified stare didn't leave the PDA on the ground for even a moment. Leshawna looked scared, and Harold was just quietly contemplating his own mortality. Gwen looked shocked, and Trent looked panicked. Even Eva looked scared. Sierra complained endlessly about Chris, and her mother's crush on him, that being her cause for being on the show (other than meeting Cody in person) and the reason for her mortality now. Cody looked down right terrified.

Duncan meanwhile reacted differently.

the delinquent stared, first at the device on the ground, then Courtney, who slumped to the ground, a blank stare straight ahead at the surf, where the waves were getting higher, rolling in and slapping the beach, then rolling back out. she didn't move. or say anything. there were small trembles that ran up and down her arms, down her back.

"Princess...?" Duncan poked her shoulder, before kneeling to her level, to try to get a good look at her face. her features were blank. this worried him.

"Princess? can you hear me? say something,"

Courtney didn't aknowledge him. she got up silently, and walked back up the beach a short ways away from the group who were all having their own panic attacks about the news they'd all just received.

"We found a shelter!" Justin called, from a distance, as the group emerged from the other side of the beach.

Justin walked down the beach, and stopped infront of Courtney. the CIT silently walked past him.

"Hello?" he jogged back to her. "we found a shelter! don't you wanna come look at it?"

Courtney kept walking silently up the beach. eyes to the ground. her breathing was shallow and her legs trembled as she walked.

"Courtney, don't ignore me!" Justin got infront of her, to try to stop her from going any further.

Lindsay, Beth, Katie, Sadie and Dj emerged from the otherside of the beach, and saw the scene.

before Justin could say anything more to harass Courtney, Duncan stepped in,

"hey pretty boy, don't you think Princess probably has something better to do than to see the crap shack you built?"

"I found us all a shelter, she said she wanted to come look at it, i was just-"

Duncan's look shut him up, and Justin grumbled.

"what's the matter with her, anyways?"

"I have no idea, she wouldn't talk." Duncan sighed, he glanced towards her retreating back. "whatever it is, it isn't good."

Bridgette caught up to them. "something's really wrong. she left her PDA on the beach!" she held up the device she'd recovered, and handed it to Duncan.

"I think it has to do with the fact we're stranded here with a hurricane on the way,"

"the weather men pretty much just said we're all gonna die here!" Harold fretted.

Duncan bit his lip, and glanced towards the direction Courtney had gone. he glanced down at Courtney's PDA. it was still getting reception from the radar signal.

the storm was alot closer than it had been an hour or two ago. and it looked bigger. with everything that'd been said, he guessed it was just a bit too much for the CIT to handle.

"Justin, go stop Princess. i'll tell everyone to go bring everything to the shelter..."

Justin nodded. "I'll be right back, then." he then dashed off, and the rest of his group filed back down onto the beach, to see what was going on.

Courtney stumbled along the sand. the CIT's eyes were to the ground, and she didn't say a word. she wasn't sure where she'd end up, or how far away she'd go from the others.

she was suppost to be their leader, but it'd just turned into something even she couldn't handle.

"Bridgette," Duncan began, as the delinquent and the surfer chick shuffled back to the main area of the beach.

"hm?"

"I'm gonna look for Courtney."

"really?"

"yeah... i kinda... owe her the favor," Duncan sighed and thought back to earlier, when she'd come to help him, and he'd made her angry.

Bridgette tried to hide the smile on her face, as Duncan turned "well, alright. I can tell everyone to go to the shelter. hurry and find her," she advised him.

Duncan nodded, and then jogged off.

Bridgette continued to head back towards the main beach. she examined the others, and sighed. it was a big job to command authority over everyone gathered there.

"u- uh hey, guys," she cleared her throat, "Courtney's... erm, a little overwhelmed. s- so we're all gonna calmly take everything to the shelter, okay?" she looked up at the sky. the rain was now a steady freezing downpour.

"and we should do this quickly, so everybody move!"


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: chapter 4!

contains spoilers from ALL SEASONS OF TD SO FAR. read at your own risk!

i don't own TD. if i did, Heather wouldn't have tricked Alejandro :(

Enjoy!

it rained so hard, that Courtney's mind was at complete and total unrest. the CIT had never been more scared and uncertain of anything in her whole life.

since the finale phiasco, being stranded on this god forsaken island and then learning you were almost certainly going to die... it was so much that she couldn't comprehend. so much she couldn't cope with.

she had just turned 17 over the last season. and now, according to those weathermen, she was going to die. at 17.

Courtney lay, curled into a small ball on the sand. the rain pounded the roof of the cave. the thunder crashed around her. she whimpered and curled up even tighter. it wasn't warm, or at all very comfortable on the cold, slightly damp ground. but this is also where Duncan found her.

"...Princess?"

Courtney didn't move, or even dignify much of any kind of response to his calling out, except a small whimper.

the delinquent made his way down the narrow path farther into the cave, and spotted Courtney's back turned to the wall.

"Courtney?" he called to her again.

no response. he'd have believed she was hurt, or sleeping, or dead- except for the fact he saw her back trembling.

"Courtney..." he knelt down beside her, and looked at the CIT's trembling form. was she... crying?

there were footsteps at the top of the tunnel, and frustrated yelling that sounded like Heather's... she could only assume that the rest of the contestants had found her hiding spot, but Duncan had found it first.

"Princess, what's wrong?"

Courtney slowly rolled over, and looked the delinquent in the face for a good long time. her dark eyes not moving from his teal ones. it was at this point Duncan saw the fear in her eyes, and the tears welling at the corners.

"Duncan!"

for the first time in months, since their messy break up on the plane during world tour, Courtney had never sounded so desperate for him. the CIT shot up so suddenly it startled him and threw her arms around him messily, trying to find anything to hold onto.

Duncan toppled over, and had the brunette CIT sobbing onto his chest, as he lay, immobile and pinned on the sand.

"P- Princess?" he was confused by this reaction, but he put his own emotions aside for a moment, to consider the hard situation Courtney was in.

"I- I tried- s- so hard!" Courtney choked on her sobs, trying to breathe, but her shallow, shaky breaths turned into choking, sputtering and gasps. "I- It's a-all my fa- fault!"

"h- huh?" Duncan tried to sit up, but to no avail, and so he stayed pinned. "Courtney," he found himself running his fingers calmly through her soft brunette locks... not so much to soothe his own discomfort, but for her sake. which he found it strange to be thinking about Courtney's needs when their relationship had ended so badly like it had.

why had he done it?

for a moment he reflected on the confessional in london... what had possessed him to do such a thing...? he should've known... and right after she said she missed him! idiot!

"You did the best job you could, babe-" he didn't catch himself fast enough to stop himself from letting that four letter word slip out.

even worse, Courtney's head raised and she looked at him even more confused than before. tears spilling down her tan cheeks.

"w- what did- y- you say?" she sniffled, wiping her eyes.

"I- I said... y- you did all you could, Princess..." he paused, and internally cursed. he'd done it again!

"and... if it's anyone's fault, it's Heather's, not yours," he added quickly. thinking back to the finale half of the events blame could be easily pinned on the Queen bee's shoulders...but then it'd be just as easy to shift most, if not all the blame to Chris for not warning Heather about the 'no pineapples' signs, and then abandonning them on the island.

Courtney suddenly rose, and she weakly shoved at him. he was surprised by this. "you... y- you don't get it!" she cried, "because of me, e- everyone's in danger! w- we're stuck here! i- it is strictly i- in the CIT ha- hand book t- that in t- the case o- of natural disaster- t- the leader is not, u- under no circumstances s- suppost to break down!"

Duncan sat for a moment, watching her, before Courtney's floundering attempts to stand failed, and she flopped back onto him, accidentally this time.

"Geez, Court." he sighed "take it easy, you're gonna kill yourself with the stress and there won't be anything left for the hurricane to do."

another shove. apparently she didn't think that joke was funny.

"Y- You don't get it, Duncan!" she cried, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I get it, now that you said all of that..." he sighed "look, it's more of Chris's fault, then it is yours...don't be so hard on yourself, Princess...it's not like you knew about this ahead of time."

Courtney glanced at him, then dug into the pocket of her khaki colored capris, expecting to find something...

to her horror, the item she was looking for wasn't there.

"M- My PDA!" Courtney fretted. she seemed to regain her strength and got up, to search for it.

Duncan rolled over, and sighed. "Relax, Princess." he said calmly. "you left it on the beach when you freaked out."

Courtney's dark eyes widened in horror. she looked up to where the cave began, and where she saw pouring rain.

"THE BEACH?"

before she could react any further to this, there was a startled cry, and Bridgette came skidding down the sandy path. the surfer girl was soaked through, but raised her head, with a groan, she looked around the cave, and offered a faint smile to Duncan and Courtney.

"Hey guys."

Duncan got up from where he laid, and helped Bridgette up. she had scratched her knees and her cheek with her fall.

"Bridgette?" Geoff, Bridgette's boyfriend emerged shortly after her, also soaked through. he was a bit more careful with sliding into the cave, and landed on his stomach, rather than breaking his fall with his face, like Bridgette had.

he was quick to get up, though despite also having sustained scratches and grabbed Bridgette tightly around the waist, scooping her off her feet, "Bridge? are you okay, babe?"

Bridgette winced, but smiled and snuggled into him.

"I'm fine, Geoff."

the two blondes, the surfer girl and the party guy looked at each other, Bridgette's olive green eyes and Geoff's baby blues twinkling, they both instinctively leaned in, before Duncan loudly cleared his throat.

"AHEM."

both realized the interruption, and jerked away from each other, embarassed.

Courtney smiled. he noticed, and shot a small smirk at her. he wouldn't admit it, but it was good to see her smiling again.

"hello, is there room down there for the rest of us?" Heather's frustrated voice shattered the moment of peace. Alejandro had her in his arms, bridal style, as a result of her walking face first into a tree earlier. surprisingly, the latin teen was able to easily scale down the wall with the queen bee in his arms.

"Coming in!" Harold slipped and fell on the sand, coughing.

Duncan stood infront of him, and smirked.

"W- well, what are you waiting for, help me up!" Harold ordered him. Duncan just chuckled, snickering.

"no way dork face,"

Leshawna came after him, and glared at duncan. "here ginger baby cakes," she helped the nerd up, and helped to dust him off.

"Thanks, Leshawna," Harold coughed.

slowly, the rest of the teenagers, soaked through from the pouring rain emerged at the top of the tunnel and slipped and fell or managed to safely manuever their way into the hiding place. one by one, Justin, Katie and Sadie, Dj, Lindsay, Tyler, Beth, Cody, and even Sierra in her wheel chair. the only unaccounted for was Ezekiel. no one had seen heads or tails of him since the finale, when he'd stolen the money from Heather, then fell face first, into an active volcano- with the money.

the quarters inside the cave were quite cramped, not at all warm, and slightly damp, but it would provide adequate protection for now. the sand accumulated inside made for a soft place to sit, and the wall sheilded the teens from the wrathful winds.

"so, still think collecting rainwater was a good idea?" Justin pressed Bridgette, as the male model huddled against the wall. the surfer chick glared at him.

above their heads, the howling wind blew through the cave, bringing with it sand and rain droplets, that pelted the contestants once it reached the point past where the wall began.

"Augh! this sucks!" Heather complained. the queen bee tugged her ponytail out, to strain the sand from it.

"It's not so bad...at least we're...kinda dry?" Duncan suggested, looking up at the wall. outside, the sky was dark, and the rain flew in the cave's entrance. they'd forgotten to seal it.

"the important thing is that everyone's safe," Bridgette explained calmly. the surfer chick looked over at the CIT curled up on the sand beside Duncan. Courtney's limit had been reached for all this leader of chaos stuff. she thought it better to leave it be, so she didn't bother to ask Duncan what had happened.

Gwen however did.

the goth glanced over, and noticed Courtney's back to the others in the group, farther off from the others, (but not far, the enclosure of the cave wasn't very big at all. all 23 teens barely fit in there.) she wasn't making any noises or anything, and looked to be possibly sleeping. with all the work she'd had to do today, Gwen assumed she was, and made her way over to Duncan's side.

to say they were together... she didn't know if she could've said that. sure, she'd kissed him, but she'd kissed trent, too... it didn't exactly equal a relationship. at least not a serious one right away.

"Hey."

the delinquent looked at her, and offered a weak smirk. "Hey pasty."

Gwen didn't say anything but nodded her head to Courtney's backside.

"what's up with Courtney? she had a major break down on the beach, i don't think i've ever seen her so... dysfunctional."

Duncan supressed a weak chuckle, "Miss CIT couldn't handle it," he joked, but he knew how much stress Courtney had been under lately. mostly of his own fault... he cursed the lavatory confessional a hundred more times in the back of his head. he knew why she wasn't being herself lately... he knew all too well.

Gwen nodded. "i'm not surprised she's wiped out. i don't think i could've handled dealing with this..."

"only Princess could,"

Gwen nodded again.

then it fell into silence. the awkward kind.

Trent meanwhile sat against the wall at the far end of the cave. "I can't even stand to look at this," he groaned. "it's so... bad."

Cody looked at him. it was funny, he'd once considered Trent a rival for Gwen's affection, but since Duncan had taken her, literally stolen her, they'd become closer. he figured the band mates thing helped, too but it was mostly the Gwen thing.

"I know. Duncan is such a... jerk face! he doesn't even get that he and Gwen aren't meant for each other."

"I know," Trent sighed sadly. "and now, look, we're all stuck in here for who knows how long... having to watch those two not talking to each other!"

the geek noticed the musician's eyes didn't leave the pale skinned goth girl. his ex-girlfriend. Cody knew it was more than obvious, that deep down, Trent still liked her.

"It's so obvious by the way that you're looking over there, that you still like her," Sierra chipped in.

"what? l- like who...?" Trent was startled by the super fan's intrusion in the conversation.

"Gwen, like duh."

Trent stared at her for a moment, then groaned, his shoulders slumping. "is that that obvious?"

"that and you wrote three more songs about her yesterday."

"I was gonna play one for her at the wrap party," he sighed. "maybe it'd have changed her mind about Duncan..."

"you could always hope that," Cody suggested. "I would."

"I- I mean, I would if i was you! n- not that I a- as me, would do that... I would never..."

"Save it, I know you like Gwen too." Trent sighed.

Cody blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, I've known that for a while."

Cody sighed, then shrugged. it was only when he caught Sierra's glare, that he swallowed,

"I did like Gwen, but I've accepted she's not the one for me... you on the other hand, you and Gwen were great together... and I didn't mind having lost her to you... but Duncan?"

Trent sighed.

"where did I go wrong? if I never got so crazy last season... maybe I'd still be with her... Courtney would still be with Duncan, and things would be right."

he slightly doubted that, reflecting on the moments of last season... his nine obsession and obsession with Gwen had caused his own downfall. but she hadn't needed to vote him off... that still hurt, thinking about it. but even after all of that, he'd forgiven Gwen for all of it. he'd forgotten all about it... and he still liked her. alot.

but learning he'd lost her to Duncan in one breif moment of weakness? he still wondered if he was still lingering in her mind somewhere... the guilt of what was done in london should've been there. it wasn't. the kiss in area 51 and the one on the aftermath set in hawaii confirmed his worst fears.

"this game messes with everyone's heads," Bridgette frowned, overhearing the situation. "i should know... i got stuck making out with a pole."

Geoff shot glares in Alejandro's direction as Bridgette mentioned that. it was obvious the party guy had not gotten over the latin heartbreaker messing with his girlfriend behind his back.- worse, on international tv.

"oh come on, does everyone know about this?" Trent groaned.

"you're talking about it in a very cramped space with 23 other people. i don't think it'd be hard for us _not _to hear you," Noah retorted. "you know, over the wind and the storm and what not..."

Trent sighed.

"I just can't stand her and Duncan... I really liked Gwen... a- and he.. i bet he doesn't even know what her favorite cheesy movie moment is... o- or her favorite color! or-"

"alright, we get it. join the club romeo." Noah jabbed his thumb at the other overly smitten guys and their girls near the wall. Alejandro and Heather were sitting together, the arch villain's grip possesive on the queen bee in his lap. Geoff snuggled Bridgette, and Tyler sat beside Lindsay, admiring the ditzy blonde's 'natural' beauty.

Trent looked at the other three couples. he was envious of them, somehow... he tried to tell himself it wasn't because they had what he didn't: happiness. he sighed, and moved away from the wall, turning his back on Gwen and Duncan's awkward silence, unable to tolerate it, when he could've just as easily been there, telling her a corny joke and getting a real laugh.

instead, the musician retired to the other end of the tiny space, and wedged himself up against the wall, trying not to look at Bridgette and Geoff, or any of the other couples.

he started to draw notes in the sand underneath him, humming a familiar, but sad sounding tune.

the rain continued through the rest of the day, into the early evening. the wind howling the entire time. the teens found ways to keep themselves busy. Izzy's one person multiple personality monolouges kept herself entertained, while Owen hacked into the foodstash, eating to try to calm his nerves. Bridgette and Geoff surprisingly were too on edge to make out, so they spent the time talking to Leshawna and Harold, about Trent's problems with Gwen, all while giving Duncan evil eyes from across the small space.

the delinquent apparently cared less, and paid them no mind. instead, he was watching over Courtney. the CIT had indeed fallen asleep now, wiped out by the exhaustion and stress of the past 24 hours.

Gwen sat beside him, neither one of them saying much, just watching silently while Duncan sat, his teal eyes unmoving from Courtney's backside.

the goth felt a bit put out, but reminded herself that the break-up was still recent. there had to be lingering feelings... and faced with one's own mortality, regrets, surely. perhaps he was trying to make ammends before the end was near... or maybe the whole 'relationship' she thought they'd had on the plane was a joke. pretend. make believe.

it didn't seem like it now. but in this situation...the leaned back against the opposite wall,and thought back to the conversation on the beach she'd had with Duncan earlier... when the panic of the storm had initially set in, all about him being overly chummy with Courtney lately, when they'd just hooked up less than a week or two ago.

maybe she was wrong. maybe it was one of those "showmances" that didn't last. one of those relationships the fans went nuts over while the show was on, then when it was over, it'd all fall to shambles off screen.

it kinda felt like that, anyways.

she hadn't liked Duncan before.

she had really liked Trent...

so what had possesed her to go the other way just like that? and hurting Courtney hadn't been apart of the plan, either.

had she forgotten how it felt? to be stabbed in the back like that? when Heather had kissed Trent infront of her... the situation she figured, was essentially the same.

replace Courtney with her, and her with... Heather...Trent with Duncan, and voila. exactly the same.

and she knew it was worse, when Heather, the ice queen had reached out to Courtney to comfort her after what she'd done. and after Courtney had trusted her!

they had gotten along so well in london.

she was a horrible, dispicable person!

Gwen noticed Duncan's focus was elsewhere, and took the time to slide over to Heather's spot against the wall. the Queen bee was leaning against Alejandro's shoulder, while the arch villain murmurred what Gwen could only assume was the multitude of Heather's spanish pet-names in her ear, running his fingers through her hair. the smile on her face was genuine...

"H- Hey, Heather... Heather...?" she tapped the queen bee on the shoulder.

Heather's gray eyes opened, and her peace was disturbed. the annoyed look on her face replaced the approachable calm smile.

"well, what do you want?"

Gwen flinched. that was harsh. even for Heather.

"I messed up."

"you're telling _me _this why? shouldn't you apologize to Courtney? you know, for kissing her boyfriend. _three times?"_

Gwen gasped.

"W- Well, Y- Yeah, I- I guess i probably should do that... but listen... I was thinking about the whole thing... Duncan seems like he's not even interested anymore... "

"well, don't come crying to me. I'm not going to bail you out of your despair. i had enough trouble prying Courtney off my shoulders in Greece after your big screw up." Heather snapped.

"I don't expect you of all people to help me out, Heather. so don't worry about that," Gwen rolled her eyes. she sighed.

"but... you do remember when you kissed Trent infront of me on the dock of shame?"

Heather swallowed hard.

"Trent? I- I don't have even the slightest clue what you mean... I don't remember tha-"

"you and Lindsay planted a phony letter on my bed...?"

"oh... that... it was just strategical. I swear it was not personal." Heather beamed.

"_Right." _Gwen rolled her eyes.

"anyways... it's pretty much the same thing I did to Courtney.. I guess i just forgot what it felt like... I mean... I feel really bad now... It really really hurt to think Trent would ever do that to me...a- and then for me to turn around to do the same thing to Courtney, just when we were getting along...? I'd never do that!" she sighed

"I feel horrible."

"as you should. you caused me alot of stress with Courtney's vendettas against you and Duncan! we would've won more challenges if it wasn't for the fact you stole her boyfriend. on national tv, might I add."

"international, actually... Total Drama is seen all over the world-"

"SHUT IT HAROLD!" Geoff shouted. Bridgette was startled by his reaction. she wondered if it had anything to do with the Yukon accident with Alejandro...and a pole.

"well, actually Heather, I figured alot of your stress was with Alejandro flirting with Courtney."

Heather blushed. "w- well... t- the fact that she was too busy making goo-goo eyes at him to focus on the challenges was irritating..."

Gwen smirked.

"B- BUT- it had NOTHING to do with the fact that I actually...like Alejandro."

"it was obvious anyways," Gwen chuckled.

Heather's blush darkened, then she glared.

"it was _totally _obvious, Hannah. like even I knew!" Lindsay chipped in from behind Gwen.

Heather shot dagger eyes at the ditzy blonde, wearing the most innocent, but yet still sinister smiles...

"Shut it,_ Lindsiot_."

Gwen chuckled. Heather's glare darkened.

"ENOUGH about _me_." she hissed.

"the problem is about you, and Courtney. and Duncan, since you stole her boyfriend."

"I didn't steal Duncan!" Gwen cried. she then stopped herself.

"Okay! M- Maybe I am a dirty boyfriend stealer!" she sighed. "but... what do I have to do to prove i'm not?"

Heather smirked. Gwen glared at her, inturn.

"I don't know. maybe you could explain to Courtney how it was all your fault?"

while Heather's point was hurtful, it was kinda true... she couldn't remember who had been at fault in the confessional. she didn't want to. she'd take all the blame for this... like Trent had for her.

Trent...

Gwen glanced at the other side of the tiny space, and spotted him out of the corner of her peripheral. she sighed. she couldn't even immagine how he must have felt...it'd been so long since she'd talked to him... the breif exchange on the aftermath studio set hadn't counted, either...

"okay, I'll take the blame for it. a- all of it!"

"that's a start," Heather nodded, approvingly. she was enjoying the scenario being set that was making Gwen churn with internal guilt. how she enjoyed seeing her nemesis suffering. it more than made up for all of the hazzard she'd caused her on the plane with Courtney's insanity.

"I can only hope that Courtney will understand what I mean... I- I mean, i never meant to do that... a- any other circumstance... no matter how hot Duncan is, i'd have never done that! not to anyone!" she hesitated

"Even you, Heather!"

Heather rolled her eyes. "trust me goth girl, if you had even tried to lay one finger on Alejandro, after all the stress it caused me to have Bridgette, Leshawna and _ugh_... Courtney fawning all over him... _you _would've been thrown off the plane."

Gwen gulped, but managed a slight chuckle.

"_Without_ a parachute." Heather's face told her she wasn't joking.

"you really do like him, don't you?" she gestured to Alejandro.

Heather's blush darkened.

"Shut up, weird goth girl."

Gwen snickered.

"thanks for the advice, Heather. "

The queen bee nonchallantly brushed her off. "whatev."

Gwen then turned from her nemesis and glanced over at someone she'd been ignoring. Duncan was ignoring her... Bridgette and Leshawna were busy talking to each other... and Sierra had Cody too preoccupied.

wordlessly, Gwen crawled away from Heather, and snuck up on her unsuspecting victim.

peering over his shoulder, she saw something scribbled in the sand... that looked like music notes.

"Hey."

Trent whirled around, to see Gwen beside him. he noticed though, that Duncan was paying no attention whatsoever, to the girl who was supposedly his 'girlfriend'. instead, he was worried about Courtney, his ex.

"Gwen... H- Hey..."


End file.
